Our penultimate former Yugoslav country now, Slovenia have had quite a mixed set of results in the contest, especially in recent years with qualifications for the final coming but seldom. They pulled a (welcome) surprise qualification to the final last year, and given their entry this year was a surprise, could that bode well again?

The Slovenian national final, EMA 2019, saw 10 artists compete with the top two going to a super final. Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl won a landslide and
crushing victory with their song “Sebi”. It was really rather unexpected. The duo got together last year and released three singles but still classed as relative unknowns and came from nowhere to win, surprising themselves in the process

Trying to describe the musical style of this song is really quite tricky: experimental? Downtempo? Ambient dreampop? Whatever it is, it’s not really like anything else in the contest. It does involve use of a sampler in the song – so last year we had Netta with her looper, now we have Slovenia with their sampler.

Qualification chances? Well maybe you can tell me! I am struggling to know if this will qualify or not, and if it does, how it would do in the grand final. This has built up quite a bit of support in the fandom certainly though unlike the other former Yugoslav countries, support from the Balkan televote never seems quite so secure. They are also in the same semi-final as that other “out there” entry, Portugal which might affect their chances, thought they do perform in different halves. So I think really anything is possible with this one – I’d be interested to know your views on the song and likelihood of qualification.

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Official music video:

National final performance:

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My preview video:

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Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest